The US: “Pressure Makes Us”
On July 10, 1999, the US women’s soccer team took home the world cup after beating China in PKs. It is only fitting that exactly twelve year later the same tenacity demonstrated by the 1999 team would be emulated by the new generation of soccer stars. A generation that almost certainly fought over who could wear the 9 sported by Mia or the 6 worn by Brandi. I personally only wanted to wear the 1 of Scurry. Everyone had their favorite player, the player that they aspired to one day become.
The women of the 1999 team, changed the game for the US. It became a national sports team that the whole country supported and rallied around. It was a team that we could be proud of.
Some of the women on this year’s team had the honor of playing with these women. Others on the team grew up aspiring to be them. Maybe the spirit rubbed off, passed from the veterans to the newbies. Maybe the drive to “be like them” has made the team what they are today. Or maybe it is the pressure felt by the team to live up to the expectations of the next generation. A generation fighting over Wambach’s 20 or Boxx’s 7. Whatever the cause, Nike’s new spot seems to capture the players’ sentiment: without the pressure of the US, of those little girls, they wouldn’t be doing what they are. “Pressure makes us.”
On July 10, 2011, they showed those little girls, the US and the world that they meant it. They showed up to win. Ready to leave everything on the field before going home, and they did just that.
In the first two minutes, the US stunned Brazil with its first goal. The second fastest in US women’s world cup history, Boxx made a brilliant pass through the six-yard mark where Daiane’s bad attempt to clear the ball resulted in an own goal. Though it was too early in the game to jump to conclusions, I (and probably most US fans watching) felt myself relax.
As a goalie, I tend to feel a bit better after my team has scored the first goal. Even against our biggest rival, I felt relief that I had a cushion. After all, if they don’t score, we at least tie. (This was what my coach always told me before I walked onto the field.) Thus, my logic was that if they scored once, we still tied! (I really doubt he meant for me to interpret it this way…)
With that logic, I felt some of that pressure dissipate (yes, I do get nervous for the US team), as it seemed that a dangerous Brazilian team had become unfocused. I felt like it was an indicator of good things to come. I should have known better. A cushion that early is dangerous.
Brazil had a number of opportunities in the first half, including a header by Aline into the side netting. The Brazilians had 5 other shots on goal, all of which Solo handled with relative ease, showing all watching that she could deal with whatever pain was lingering in her shoulder.
Early on, the referee made it clear that she would call the game as she saw fit. Any dissent would not be tolerated. In the 44th minute Wambach drew a hit from Aline. The ref awarded Aline with a yellow, and when Marta complained that Wambach had taken a dive, she received a yellow as well. In the first half Carli Lloyd also picked up a yellow, but overall the ref seemed pretty fair.
At the beginning of the second half, the US got a break. Lloyd handled the ball to control it. To all parties watching, it appeared to be intentional. The ref should have made the call, but at least it was in our favor. Little did I know, it would be the beginning of a series of questionable calls.
In the 63rd minute Lloyd’s header bounced of the crossbar. The US wasn’t letting up. I thought we were sure get another goal in the next 10 minutes. The relentless attacks of the US teams were going to be rewarded. Two minutes later it all fell apart.
Marta managed to control a ball and squeeze through two US players. Rachel Buehler was at her heals and saw the opportunity to make the tackle and get the ball. After watching the replay, it appeared to be a clean tackle. At least an honest effort to get the ball and close enough that a red card seemed excessive. But, in this situation the ref had a difficult decision: Make the call and be forced to give the card or don’t and feel the wrath of the Brazilian team. She made the call and a shocked Buehler saw red.
A PK was coming. Sure, we had a cushion, but the fact that the game might come down to a “bad” call was irritating. Solo took her line and Cristiane stepped up to take the shot. Solo got set, read the shot, shuffled to her left and made the save. No forward movement. Nothing to question. Despite a bad call, the US was still ahead.
The ref wasn’t having any of that. So she made another questionable call: she said the PK needed to be retaken. WHAT?! Are you f*cking kidding me!? There is no way Solo came off her line. Terrible, terrible call. Solo thought so as well and mouthed off to the AR, receiving a yellow for her complaint. (It turns out the call was made for encroachment, which was definitely reasonable given the replays we saw after the fact. Even if most refs wouldn’t have made that call. There is a great assessment and discussion of what happened here.) Needless to say, Marta put it in and the game was tied. With a man down, the US needed to hold Brazil. A second goal from them would be almost impossible to recover from.
When Marta scored in the first half of overtime (on a play that should have been called offsides), everyone realized that it would be incredibly difficult to recover. The US battled through the rest of overtime, showing no signs of losing the belief that this tournament was theirs. Their excellent conditioning allowed them to spread the field, even with a man down, and create set plays on the Brazilian end of the field. Still, nothing was going in and it appeared that their tournament was close to over.
With only a couple of minutes left in overtime Erika fell to the ground, with what appeared to be a phantom back spasm. After being carried off the field on a stretcher, she hopped up and ran back in to play. She was obviously trying to run down the clock and received a yellow card for her frustrating tactics. Had she not done so, Brazil might have won. The ref added 3 extra minutes to the clock, which in a 15 minute half is quite a bit of time. The US had time. That’s all they needed.
With about a minute to go, in the 122nd minute, Megan Rapinoe made a perfect pass into the box. Wambach made the run, got her head on the ball and put it in the back of the net. The game was to be determined by PKs, a poetic end to a game whose turning point was a PK made on two questionable calls.
Boxx stepped up to take the first shot. Andreia made the save, but was so far off the line the ref called the ball back. Boxx put it in with ease. Marta and Christiane did the same for Brazil, with Lloyd and Wambach following suit. Daiane stepped up and you could almost see Solo deciding that this was the one. Solo went right and made a brilliant save, putting the US in position to take the game. Rapinoe and Krieger took the final two shots for the US without problem. The game was over. The US, despite being a player down and a point behind up until almost the last minute, had come back to take it.
I can only imagine the extreme pressure felt by the women who left everything on the field that day. The pressure to make it to the semifinal (a game that the US has never missed since the inception of the Women’s World Cup), of playing a man down, of being behind until the last minute, of knowing little girls at home were counting on them. Not once did it appear that the US had given up. They fought hard and kept their heads up. They believed they could win and willed it to happen.
They have the heart. They have the talent. They have the pressure. Pressure makes us. This is their time.
-HD
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